Tips to Avoid Credit Card Debts this Holiday Season

Christmas, the season of gifting and sharing is just a whiff away. Take care not to over spend with your credit cards or you could end up paying debts for the next few months. That’ll mean a lot of sacrifices like many weekends with no entertainment, missing on favorite movies and zero shopping for the months to come. To avoid piling up debts this holiday season, take a look at what you can do:

1Start saving in advance Start saving a certain amount per month, so you’ll be well cushioned to pay your bills.

2Have just one card The more cards you have, the more debts you’ll have. Before you buy one compare credit card rates and keep the right kind of card that suits your need with low interest rates. Most of the store credit cards are not as useful as they seem to be. Their interest rates are way higher and sometimes they force you to purchase in those stores just because you have the store credit card.

3Pay more than the minimum payment Some people think that the amount specified in the ‘Minimum payment’ was all that the card issuer expects from them. Minimum payment means that the user would not be charged any penalty but interest rates will be charged for the unpaid dues. Assuming that your credit card bill stands at $500 and the minimum payment is around $50. If you cannot pay $500 in full but can cough up a payment of $300, it makes sense to do so. Hence the next month the interest will be charged only on a sum of $200 ($500 minus $300 that you paid off) as against $450 if you had paid only the minimum due amount.

4Talk your way Whoever said ‘Ask and it shall be given’ was really right. If you are almost drowning in debt then it’s better to come out clean with your position to your credit card issuer rather than sit and sulk. Explain to the executive as to how good a customer you’ve been with regular payments and a decent credit history. And you get a slight reduction in your interest rate

So that sums up the four point agenda for this holiday season. Since holiday debts have become a sort of ritual with Americans, many websites like BillShrink.com offer a lot of suggestions and tools to compare credit card interest rates and reward points. Make sure to check out such sites to help plan your holiday shopping better.